Rowdy Tellez homers, drives in three runs vs. Twins

PITTSBURGH — Rowdy Tellez hit his first home run since March 31, then drove a two-run single, counting for three of the Pirates’ four runs in a 4-0 victory over the Twins Saturday afternoon at PNC Park.

While Tellez had been swinging a better bat over the past week or so, he has not come close to matching the production the Pirates had hoped for from him coming into the season. However, his two home runs this year have been pivotal to two wins, the first completing a comeback against the Marlins in the opening series of the season, and his Statcast-projected 403-foot blast to center off Simeon Woods Richardson breaking a scoreless tie in the seventh inning on Saturday.

Tellez then tacked on two insurance runs with a two-out single in the eighth off Jhoan Duran before scoring on a Michael A. Taylor single.

The Pirates had to resort to a bullpen game after Quinn Priester was placed on the injured list Thursday, and they didn’t have a rested option in the Minors. The unit had struggled of late, but Carmen Mlodzinski, Luis L. Ortiz, Justin Bruihl and Hunter Stratton managed to go seven scoreless innings, with Ortiz delivering 4 1/3 frames in his longest outing of the season.

Colin Holderman and David Bednar, each pitching in his fourth game in five days, tossed scoreless innings.

The Pirates will go for the series sweep Sunday. They are now 31-33.